Title: Reduced fertility in women with HIV infection; a population-based study in Uganda.

POPLINE Document Number: 127798

Author(s):

Gray RH
Serwadda D
Wawer MJ
Sewankambo N
Paxton L
Wabwire-Mangen F
Kiwanuka N
Li C
McNairn D
Kigozi G

Source citation:

In: The socio-demographic impact of AIDS in Africa. Based on the conference organized by the Committee on AIDS of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, 3-6 February 1997. Papers. Liege, Belgium, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP], 1997. :24 p.

Abstract:

Pregnancy was investigated among 4813 sexually active women aged 15-49 in rural Rakai District of southwestern Uganda who reported at least one sex partner during the previous year and provided a blood sample for HIV serology. 19.3% were pregnant, with 83.7% of those pregnancies reported by the woman and 16.3% detected by urinary hCG. 953 (19.8%) women were infected with HIV-1. The prevalence of HIV infection varied by age from 7.3% among women aged 15-19, 26.5% in the 20-29 age group, 21.7% in women aged 30-39, and 9.7% in women aged 40-49. The prevalence of active syphilis was 9.3%. 21.4% of women infected with neither HIV nor syphilis were pregnant, compared to 14.2% of HIV-negative women with active syphilis, 8.5% of HIV-positive women with syphilis, and 13.4% of HIV-positive women without syphilis. The age-specific pregnancy rates were lower in the HIV-infected than in the control women in all age groups. However, among the HIV-negative women with active syphilis, the reduction in pregnancy rates was mainly observed in the youngest age group 15-19. These younger women are likely to have relatively recent infections; early syphilis has a severe impact upon pregnancy loss. Among the 953 HIV-infected women, 87.4% had no symptoms or signs suggestive of clinical HIV disease; 14.3% of these asymptomatic subjects were pregnant. Only 7.5% of 120 symptomatic HIV-infected women were pregnant. Pregnancy rates in the symptomatic HIV-positive women were 0% in 5 women with herpes zoster, 5.9% in 34 women with chronic cough, 6.5% in 31 women with oral candidiasis, and 8.8% in 80 women who reported weight loss.

Keywords:

Uganda
Research Report
Rural Population
HIV Infections
AIDS
Syphilis
Prevalence
Fertility Determinants
Pregnancy
Pregnant Women
Women
Developing Countries
Africa, Eastern
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Viral Diseases
Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Reproductive Tract Infections
Infections
Measurement
Research Methodology
Fertility
Population Dynamics
Reproduction